Book of Common Prayer
25 To you, O Lord, I pray. 2 Don’t fail me, Lord, for I am trusting you. Don’t let my enemies succeed. Don’t give them victory over me. 3 None of those who have faith in God will ever be disgraced for trusting him. But all who harm the innocent shall be defeated.
4 Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk. 5 Lead me; teach me; for you are the God who gives me salvation. I have no hope except in you. 6-7 Overlook my youthful sins, O Lord! Look at me instead through eyes of mercy and forgiveness, through eyes of everlasting love and kindness.
8 The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray; 9 he will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to him. 10 And when we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and his truth.
11 But Lord, my sins! How many they are. Oh, pardon them for the honor of your name.
12 Where is the man who fears the Lord? God will teach him how to choose the best.
13 He shall live within God’s circle of blessing, and his children shall inherit the earth.
14 Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises.
15 My eyes are ever looking to the Lord for help, for he alone can rescue me. 16 Come, Lord, and show me your mercy, for I am helpless, overwhelmed, in deep distress; 17 my problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save me from them all! 18 See my sorrows; feel my pain; forgive my sins. 19 See how many enemies I have and how viciously they hate me! 20 Save me from them! Deliver my life from their power! Oh, let it never be said that I trusted you in vain!
21 Assign me Godliness and Integrity as my bodyguards, for I expect you to protect me 22 and to ransom Israel from all her troubles.
9 O Lord, I will praise you with all my heart and tell everyone about the marvelous things you do. 2 I will be glad, yes, filled with joy because of you. I will sing your praises, O Lord God above all gods.[a]
3 My enemies will fall back and perish in your presence; 4 you have vindicated me; you have endorsed my work, declaring from your throne that it is good.[b] 5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked, blotting out their names forever and ever. 6 O enemies of mine, you are doomed forever. The Lord will destroy your cities; even the memory of them will disappear.
7-8 But the Lord lives on forever; he sits upon his throne to judge justly the nations of the world. 9 All who are oppressed may come to him. He is a refuge for them in their times of trouble. 10 All those who know your mercy, Lord, will count on you for help. For you have never yet forsaken those who trust in you.
11 Oh, sing out your praises to the God who lives in Jerusalem.[c] Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds. 12 He who avenges murder has an open ear to those who cry to him for justice. He does not ignore the prayers of men in trouble when they call to him for help.
13 And now, O Lord, have mercy on me; see how I suffer at the hands of those who hate me. Lord, snatch me back from the jaws of death. 14 Save me, so that I can praise you publicly before all the people at Jerusalem’s gates[d] and rejoice that you have rescued me.
15 The nations fall into the pitfalls they have dug for others; the trap they set has snapped on them. 16 The Lord is famous for the way he punishes the wicked in their own snares![e]
17 The wicked shall be sent away to hell; this is the fate of all the nations forgetting the Lord. 18 For the needs of the needy shall not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor shall not always be crushed.
19 O Lord, arise and judge and punish the nations; don’t let them defy you! 20 Make them tremble in fear; put the nations in their place until at last they know they are but puny men.
15 Lord, who may go and find refuge and shelter in your tabernacle up on your holy hill?
2 Anyone who leads a blameless life and is truly sincere. 3 Anyone who refuses to slander others, does not listen to gossip, never harms his neighbor, 4 speaks out against sin, criticizes those committing it, commends the faithful followers of the Lord, keeps a promise even if it ruins him, 5 does not crush his debtors with high interest rates, and refuses to testify against the innocent despite the bribes offered him—such a man shall stand firm forever.
5 He was Saul’s special assistant, and he always carried out his assignments successfully. So Saul made him commander of his troops, an appointment that was applauded by the army and general public alike. 6 But something had happened when the victorious Israeli army was returning home after David had killed Goliath. Women came out from all the towns along the way to celebrate and to cheer for King Saul, and were singing and dancing for joy with tambourines and cymbals.
7 However, this was their song: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”
8 Of course Saul was very angry. “What’s this?” he said to himself. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!”
9 So from that time on King Saul kept a jealous watch on David. 10 The very next day, in fact, a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave like a madman. David began to soothe him by playing the harp, as he did whenever this happened. But Saul, who was fiddling with his spear, 11-12 suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David jumped aside and escaped. This happened another time, too, for Saul was afraid of him and jealous because the Lord had left him and was now with David. 13 Finally Saul banned him from his presence and demoted him to the rank of captain. But the controversy put David more than ever in the public eye.
14 David continued to succeed in everything he undertook, for the Lord was with him. 15-16 When King Saul saw this, he became even more afraid of him; but all Israel and Judah loved him, for he was as one of them.
27 he and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines and presented their foreskins to King Saul. So Saul gave Michal to him.
28 When the king realized how much the Lord was with David and how immensely popular he was with all the people, 29 he became even more afraid of him and grew to hate him more with every passing day. 30 Whenever the Philistine army attacked, David was more successful against them than all the rest of Saul’s officers. So David’s name became very famous throughout the land.
19 Meanwhile, the believers who fled from Jerusalem during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, scattering the Good News, but only to Jews. 20 However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene also gave their message about the Lord Jesus to some Greeks. 21 And the Lord honored this effort so that large numbers of these Gentiles became believers.
22 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to help the new converts. 23 When he arrived and saw the wonderful things God was doing, he was filled with excitement and joy, and encouraged the believers to stay close to the Lord, whatever the cost. 24 Barnabas was a kindly person, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. As a result, large numbers of people were added to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to hunt for Paul. 26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch; and both of them stayed there for a full year teaching the many new converts. (It was there at Antioch that the believers were first called “Christians.”)
27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, 28 and one of them, named Agabus, stood up in one of the meetings to predict by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the land of Israel.[a] (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) 29 So the believers decided to send relief to the Christians in Judea, each giving as much as he could. 30 This they did, consigning their gifts to Barnabas and Paul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
29-30 Then, leaving the synagogue, he and his disciples went over to Simon and Andrew’s home, where they found Simon’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. 31 He went to her bedside, and as he took her by the hand and helped her to sit up, the fever suddenly left, and she got up and prepared dinner for them!
32-33 By sunset the courtyard was filled with the sick and demon-possessed, brought to him for healing; and a huge crowd of people from all over the city of Capernaum gathered outside the door to watch. 34 So Jesus healed great numbers of sick folk that evening and ordered many demons to come out of their victims. (But he refused to allow the demons to speak, because they knew who he was.)
35 The next morning he was up long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray.
36-37 Later, Simon and the others went out to find him, and told him, “Everyone is asking for you.”
38 But he replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and give my message to them too, for that is why I came.”
39 So he traveled throughout the province of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and releasing many from the power of demons.
40 Once a leper came and knelt in front of him and begged to be healed. “If you want to, you can make me well again,” he pled.
41 And Jesus, moved with pity, touched him and said, “I want to! Be healed!” 42 Immediately the leprosy was gone—the man was healed!
43-44 Jesus then told him sternly, “Go and be examined immediately by the Jewish priest. Don’t stop to speak to anyone along the way. Take along the offering prescribed by Moses for a leper who is healed, so that everyone will have proof that you are well again.”
45 But as the man went on his way he began to shout the good news that he was healed; as a result, such throngs soon surrounded Jesus that he couldn’t publicly enter a city anywhere, but had to stay out in the barren wastelands. And people from everywhere came to him there.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.